Aaron Hicks displays his one-piece GPS tracking unit as his wife, Michelle, looks on. Hicks says tracking unit malfunctions and repeated jail stays have strained family bonds. 'If you're trying to move on with your life, and you've got these barriers, you just want to give up,' he says.

Written by

Mario Koran
Wisconsin Center

James Morgan and Aaron Hicks were convicted of violent sex crimes and served many years in prison.

Now they are on parole, living in Madison neighborhoods, attending treatment groups and wearing global positioning system ankle monitors - tracking that, under Wisconsin law, will continue for the rest of their lives.

But Morgan, Hicks and 11 other offenders interviewed for this report say that Wisconsin's GPS tracking system repeatedly fails, registering false alerts and landing the offenders in jail although they have done nothing wrong. ...